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Tuesday, September 12, 1911: Had to run around town this morning and accomplished some errands. Have to sleep with Rufus tonight as the threshers are here.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Rufus refers to Grandma’s sister Ruth. The wheat and oats would have been harvested in last July. It would have been tied into shocks and left to dry in the field. Now a threshing machine would separate the grain from the straw.

The threshing machine would have been a huge steam operated contraption –and lots of labor was required. The owner of the machine would take it from farm to farm —and all of the farmers in the neighborhood would help.

Lots of food would have been needed to feed the men. People in central Pennsylvania used to say that a meal should have seven sweets and seven sours. I wonder if the Muffly women made Spiced Crab Apples for one of the sours to feed the threshers.

Here’s the old recipe that I use to make spiced crab apples. In the old days a large amount of spiced crab apples would have been prepared—and some would have been canned. I’ve adapted the recipe to make a smaller amount—and just store them in the refrigerator rather than canning them.

Spiced Crab Apples (Pickled Crab Apples)

2 pounds crab apples

1 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cup water

3 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons whole cloves

2 sticks cinnamon

1 piece fresh or dried ginger (approximately 1/2 inch cube)

Wash crab apples, and remove blossom ends; do not remove stems. Prick each crab apple with a fork several to prevent apple from breaking apart while cooking.

Stir vinegar, water, sugar, and spices together in a large saucepan. Bring to a slow boil. Add prepared crab apples and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and put the mixture into a large glass bowl. Refrigerate overnight. Remove spices from syrup.

The crab apples will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.

My husband really likes this recipe. He says that it tastes just like Spiced Crab Apples that his Aunt Gertrude made when he was a child–and that they bring back wonderful memories of sitting in her kitchen eating them.

hi Sheryl, As i am reading the recipe today. i find this going to be a 2 day project. as I was reading ,it says to put the mixture in a bowl and put in refrigerator overnight. Then the next day you remove the spices. Oh,I think I am answering my own question . I will then put them back in pan to reheat before putting in jars and putting in water bath canner.So I am going to start this recipe on monday.

Yes, I think that you are right–that it would take two days since the spices are supposed to be left in the syrup overnight. I recently made some watermelon rind pickles (you’ll see this in a future post), and it also was a several day process.

Thank you for sharing. My aunt and I just picked up crab apples this past weekend from up home. I am looking for a “pickling” recipe but not a sweet one. I think though that I am going to try this recipe with some of my “booty”. The good ole days, yes indeed!

Thanks so much for the great recipe…brings back wonderful memories of my own grandmother, also named Helena, born in 1886. Also really enjoying your site in general. I think the world would be a better place if we could all go back to that way of life!

I think that people today tend to eat a narrower range of fruits and vegetables than they once did. Around here crab apples are primarily planted for their lovely spring flowers, but a few of us still eat foods made from them.

Hello

I look forward to sharing my grandmother's diary with relatives and friends. Helena Muffly (Swartz) kept a diary from 1911-1914. She was 15 years old when she began this diary. I plan to post these entries one day at a time—exactly 100 years after she wrote them. I hope you enjoy this glimpse back to a slower paced time.

The header is a picture of the farm where my grandmother lived when she wrote this diary. It is located in Northumberland County in central Pennsyvlania about a mile outside of McEwenvsille. My father said that the buildings look similar to what they looked like when he was a child.